When Michael Coulter left Flint, Michigan, and went to college, he "met more gay people in one hour" than he had in his entire life. But there was one who caught his eye, and that boy would become his first love. As the school year continued, Michael's feelings only grew stronger, and with summer break approaching, he felt like he was ready to share his feelings.

The idea of a polyamorous relationship is probably shocking to a lot of people, but for Bob Lanning and his partner Don, who was often away for his job as an airline pilot, it was just the right thing to do.

While abroad in Morocco, one of 77 countries in which it is illegal to be gay, Anthony Mercurio was dumped by his first love. "I was pretty devastated," Anthony recalls. Unable to express the real reason for his heartbreak, at least Anthony had his host grandmother there to comfort him.

Femi Redwood of Milton, Delaware, grew up in an environment that was accepting of both her sexuality and her race, despite the fact that she was one of the few minorities in town. This only made her more observant later in life as she encountered less-accepting people and communities.

Alexander first realized he was gay at 5 years old thanks to a Hercules pillow set, a secret comfort he could turn to when he couldn't explain himself to his friends at school. The pillow was his "boyfriend," he says.

Nelson Moses Lassiter was excited about coming to terms with his sexuality. He imagined that, upon venturing out into the gay scene, he'd encounter a world more accepting than the one he was used to. What he discovered was not unlike the one he came from, though.

When Charlie Poulson began his gender transition in college, his transition was followed with great interest by the people in small-town Ames, Iowa. Everyone knew he was transgender. But then he went on a trip to Rome.

Overall, Albert Eisenberg had a pretty great coming out experience and was given lots of support by his family and friends. There were two experiences he had, though, that show that there's still a lot of progress that needs to happen in terms of LGBTQ acceptance and understanding.

Abby took her girlfriend home to Minneapolis over Labor Day weekend, and, at the insistence of her father, her girlfriend joined them for the family lunch with Grandpa. After an awkward beginning, with Grandpa not knowing who Abby's surprise guest was, Abby's dad stepped in and began the conversation.

You would think that after getting a phone call from Harvard Law's LGBT group encouraging their son to attend the prestigious university, Scott Blair's parents would be proud. Instead, they were devastated and joined an ex-gay counseling group and tried to make their son straight.

George Ashiotis started going blind when he was 5 years old. When he was a teenager, he worked at Lighthouse as an assistant counselor, helping younger visually impaired teens. After helping his sister dye her hair black, he ended up going to work with black fingernails, leading to his first experience of homophobia.

After an awkward conversation with the driver of the special wheelchair-accessible bus about where he was going, and then entering the club through the freight elevator, Andrew had an experience that reminded him that he's different from an already-different group.

New Yorker Mathew Shurka came out at the age of 16 to his initially supportive father, who promised to love his son no matter what, and to always stay by his son's side. However, his father's thinking became more and more influenced by homophobia and harmful stereotypes surrounding the gay community.

It might not come as a surprise to you that Noah Michelson, Executive Editor of The Huffington Post's Gay Voices vertical, is a proud queer man. What might surprise you is how young he was when he first discovered his pride and sexuality.

After learning that his religion was anti-LGBTQ, John Russell Stanger, now the first openly gay Presbyterian minister ordained in Texas, stayed in the closet even while earning his B.A. in religion. It was in seminary that John figured out that Jesus would in fact be very accepting and loving toward LGBTQ people.